Abstract
In three experiments with rats as subjects, instrumental training procedures were used to study the format of encoding of the reinforcing outcome (O). At issue is the relative contribution of response-outcome (R-O) associations between responses and their earned outcomes and of O-R associations between anticipated outcomes and responses reiaforced in their presence. In Experiments 1 and 2, R earned one O during a stimulus that controlled the anticipation of another O. Devaluation and transfer tests suggested that the earned O was more critical than the anticipated O in controlling behavior. In Experiment 3, a differential-outcomes procedure was used, with consistent R-0 relations arranged in groups that differed in the consistency of O-R relations. Subsequent devaluation of O produced similar selective depression of R, regardless of the O-R relations. These results suggest that an R-O association can contribute to instrumental performance more than does an O-R association.
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This research was supported by National Science Foundation Grant BNS-88-03514.
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Rescorla, R.A. Response-outcome versus outcome-response associations in instrumental learning. Animal Learning & Behavior 20, 223–232 (1992). https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03213376
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03213376